Reigen is such an incredible adult figure character because he's grounded in reality, and understands that there are children who are risking their lives simply just to be normal children, in a world where most every adult they come into contact with is cruel and pathetic, and has no regard for anything other than their greed and loose hold on anything in their lives, starving for power and willing to kill and torture literal kids in order to get it. Reigen puts them in their place and reminds them they're not special, they're not even close to having the insurmountable power they THINK they want, and forces them to get a grip already. He puts them at his level. He is there to guide and to deal with adult issues, and let Mob deal with his teenage issues, things that might not seem "important" to adults, but to these kids, it's the only sense of normalcy they'll ever have in a world like this, and they deserve it. And that level of care that Reigen has makes a huge impression on them, shapes their world view entirely. Even Teru, since Mob was just relaying everything his mentor had taught him, things he didn't even have much of a grip on yet. He trusted Reigen's - the first adult that really bothered to try to listen to him - advice that wholly.
Reigen doesn't need to have any powers to be special to someone, to be a role model to someone, to help someone, all he has to do is be a good guy, and that's exactly what he is, and exactly how Mob views him. He's seriously flawed, he's selfish and manipulative to an end, but not so much that he's clouded. He can see his own mistakes, and he realises when he messes up, and works on fixing it. He doesn't blame Mob, and Mob doesn't blame him, because they learn from one another and impact one another too positively to hold some petty grudge. They instead both use that distance to better themselves. He's human, and he's a pretty damn responsible adult all things considered. Mob takes his words seriously, and he's lucky that it was Reigen he sought out advice from, because if it was anyone else, it could have been way uglier than a guy who clearly feels extremely guilty about lying, who is giving genuinely good advice.
smart people who overthink things VS smart people who don't actually have a good grasp of whats going on but manages to be a genius anyway (aka wrong formula , correct result/answer)
Thank u for showing interest in this guys /gen @agendercryptidlev @doublebubbletriplethreat @evilsciencedotcom
ok its a little. long so i'll put it in a read more
Evidence #1: The series literally starts off with him mocking a romantic couple and not taking them that seriously as his clients and also he was constantly just making fun of their aesthetic appeal (their. their looks). It's clear that he doesn't see their relationship seriously.
Evidence #2: Although not all aromantic people are aplatonic, Reigen seems to be aplatonic in a way that he doesn't actively seek for platonic relationships and bonds with others out of genuine "wanting to know someone else more and be friends with them" and instead is more focused on his own work. Even his mentor-student relationship with Mob started out with Mob being the one to actively seek someone to help him with controlling his powers better. Reigen doesn't go around looking for people to befriend, but instead he just kind of knows Mob's friends Through Mob. Even Serizawa who he recruited was mainly cuz Serizawa protected him first. This is literally a big part of the Seperation Arc, Reigen was always way too focused on becoming someone great that he rarely paid attention to other people as potential friends unless the relationship has some kind of potential benefit for him. This doesn't mean he doesn't care about his relationships with others of course, he /really/ does, but his genuine kindness is usually still at least partially motivated by wanting to be somebody (who can help and inspire others).
Tl;dr: I don't think he's a loser for all his friends technically being middle schoolers it's just easier to have some kind of friendship with others if you have a mutual close friend to help it all work out ( a.k.a Mob) Also like its. Okay to not have friends. Sometimes you just wanna vibe with all these teenagers that you can be a mentor figure/good adult figure for them. Just some weird bastard uncle or older sibling / dad whatever
Evidence #3: His lack of experience in navigating romantic relationships. He's pretty sure the last time he dated was like, way back in high school or something right? (im not sure on this either tbh) And he really didn't seem interested when his mom talked abt setting him up with someone (which is not always a sign that someone is aromantic but really I don't think Reigen has thought about marriage, like, ever. Unless it's for tax benefits.)
Evidence #4: His go to relationship/confessing advice being something simple like "just communicate your feelings well" or "play hard to get" like he's not even trying to sound like an expert 😭😭 also when Mob was asking his advice on this matter he literally just read off of google and if that isn't one of the biggest aro moods I don't know what is.
Evidence #5: He has never been shown really "flirting" with anyone. If he has to play up his charisma when talking to clients well then so be it. He's really casual and professional about it too (by it I'm saying sensual massages or whatever the fuck he does....)
Evidence #6: Too busy thinking about how to get money to think about spending them all on dates with women or men or something
Evidence #7: This one is also what started the ace Reigen headcanons but the line "Is having a crush always related to sex? I don't really wanna talk to you about it." (Based Reigen btw)
Evidence #8: Honestly most of these "evidence" is just my own read of him and like. my own interpretation of course but. theres just something so Aro about a generally popular guy in his 30s not having a partner or a romantic relationship and he seems fulfilled and like, satisfied with that. I'm sure he really doesn't care about getting married. He's got Mob, Serizawa, Dimple, Tome, Teru, Ritsu (albeit reluctantly), he's got his emotional support friends/co-workers/people who genuinely care about him and look up to him because of his genuine kindness and pretty solid advice. He's got it all. Just some normal guy surrounded by espers and one evil spirit and also someone very similar to him personality wise (as some kind of daughter figure). It's neat.
Also I thought abt Ekuserirei QPR but at the same time I have a hard time visualizing Reigen in like. an Actual committed relationship with other people. I'm just kinda here man. But also Ekuserirei is genuinely such a fun dynamic so. yeah
Anyway thats my big brain thoughts on Reigen Aromanticism. all hcs are valid and if you disagree with me you can just, do whatever you want just not argue on my post thats just basic human decency ok thats all <3 💚💚 thank u for reading this far and have a good day everyone!! :]
